MY URBAN KVETCH

Tel Aviv Intermezzo

Welcome to Tel Aviv!

We kicked off our tour of Tel Aviv with a trip to the beach, of course. Then we glammed up for a Tel Avivi party in honor of the publication of Tel Aviv City Guide, which was written by friend and journalist Lisa Goldman. It took place at Beit Kastiel, which we can best describe as a beautiful, fancy, high-end furniture store in a bad neighborhood (Florentin/S. Tel Aviv). I also met SavtaDotty and Liza from SomethingSomething, and had a lovely reunion with Harry (The View From Here, Jerusalemite). I believe it was SavtaDotty (although might have been someone else) who told me that Florentin today is like SoHo used to be back when it was dirty and dangerous. (Not her exact words.) This basically means that property costs are soaring and there are very few available apartments. What's the book like, you ask? It seemed cool, but since Ketel Vodka was sponsoring the event (which had begun with champagne and many unkosher hors d'oeuvre), I can't say that I actually remembered to pick one up...(At any rate, Kol Hakavod to Lisa.) Then we went out with Ori from Coolooloosh, which was really nice, catching up on the band's progress since the Israelity Tour over a drink at Bugsy's.

Then we headed out with a friend to the Ben-Gurion Museum, two places which we visited yesterday. We kicked off our day with the Pulver breakfast at Aroma at the Namal (that's the port of Tel Aviv), where we begin our morning sipping our "hafuchim" and networking with web-savvy, creative individuals. I met many folks, including Brian Blum, whose blog (This Normal Life) I've been reading since the early days, my new Twitter pal IsraLuv, Nir Kouris and one of his young partners at EcampIsrael, and others (apologies for not linking to all). We wore our names and catchphrases (ex, Lindsay's "I refuse to Twitter") and then with stickers, "tagged" ourselves with keywords (mine included "Blogger 4 Hire," "pop culture," "Jewish life," and others). Very creative and a good icebreaker. (Unite that with drunken brainstorming, and we could really have something!)

Other highlights included driving around Tel Aviv while listening to great music, dining at a fabulous restaurant overlooking the sea and with great views of the city, and hanging out with a friend and his kids at a campfire and learning Hebrew from Israeli children. (Best way to learn Hebrew, I'm convinced.)

Today we took an early swim and headed into meetings for the rest of the day before returning to Jerusalem. Or, as the TA locals reacted, "You're going back where? Why?"

Shut Up, I'm Talking! New Book about Israeli Diplomacy

A friend of a friend has published this book, the title of which makes me laugh...It's called Shut Up, I'm Talking : And Other Diplomacy Lessons I Learned in the Israeli Government--A Memoir. The author, Greg Levey, was the speechwriter for the Israeli mission to the United Nations and then made aliyah and became Ariel Sharon’s English speechwriter. (And he's a Taglit-birthright israel alum.)

The book will appeal to anyone interested in international politics, the U.N., Israel, or political humor. Here’s how the publisher described it: "How does a New York law student apply for an internship at the Israeli Consulate and wind up writing speeches for Ariel Sharon during one of the most turbulent times in Israeli history? Wit and wisdom mingle in this hilarious real-life adventure."

The book comes out officially on Tuesday April 22--those in NYC are invited to attend the launch event at Borders  (see the book's website for all additional info). Here's a summary:

Shut Up, I'm Talking is a smart, hilarious insider take on Israeli politics that reads like the bastard child of Thomas Friedman and David Sedaris. When twenty-five-year-old law student Gregory Levey applied for an internship at the Israeli Consulate in New York, he got way more of an education than he'd bargained for. The speechwriter for the Israeli delegation to the United Nations was quitting, and Levey was asked to step in to fill the vacancy. Suddenly he found himself, like a latter-day Zelig, in the company of foreign ministers, U.S. senators, and heads of state. Much to his surprise, he was soon attending U.N. sessions and drafting official government statements. The situation got stranger still when he was transferred to Jerusalem to write speeches for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Pre-order this book on Amazon.com.

 

The Jewish Blogger Recipe Virtual Collective

Of course, your favorite bloggers tickle your emotional palates with scintillating and refreshing posts about all aspects of their Jewish identity and theorizing, providing you the lists of ingredients that compose the complicated insouciance of their daily, contemporary Jewish lives. But, to paraphrase Joan Rivers' standard red carpet inquiry, "What are they eating?"

Thanks to the 92y blog (shoutout to Krucoff, he of the Jerusalem bar mitzvah and subsequent rejection of rumor-mongering Gawker for the more wholesome life of Jewish nonprofit blogging), I now have Jewcy president/editor-in-chief Tahl Raz's famous Israeli salad recipe. It's part of the 92nd Street Y Cookbook. Which I didn't really know existed. But now I can pair Tahl's salad with Gael Greene's Orange Fruit Soup, or if I prefer, have a dessert-off between F. Murray Abraham's Choco Dot Pumpkin Cake and Dr. Ruth Westheimer's Hamantaschen. (No, that's not a euphemism.)

I wonder what my favorite bloggers have been hiding, recipe-wise. And if I can get some of my recipe-smitten gal pals to step up and organize a recipe collective for Jewish bloggers...

"Guilt" in Translation

The bestselling "Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt," authored by friend and colleague Ruthie Ellenson, is now available in Israel in Hebrew.  It features essays from Jewish women writers about the concept of guilt and how it figures into their lives--from a woman repeatedly mistaken for Monica Lewinsky because she's dark-haired and Jewish, to a woman for whom JDate is both addiction and albatross.

What? You're a man, and feel like you have no need of a Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Anything? Wrong-o, buddy. This book provides a vital glimpse into the Jewish woman's mind and heart, and what SJM couldn't benefit from that?

For a page that describes the book in Hebrew, click here.

The book will be available in stores in February, so if you're in Israel go to Steimatzky's and demand your fix.

Can't wait? Click here and order from the publisher.

Shoutout to Ruthie for all she's achieved with this book and her international touring. Here's to much success, and a reduction in the guilt we all feel, mostly just because we're Jewish women.

Harry Potter and the Nefarious Sabbath-Violators

On Saturdays, most Israeli businesses are closed, some of them in observance of the Jewish Sabbath, which runs from Friday night to Saturday night. But now a young wizard, to whose adventures many Israeli children are addicted, threatens the sanctity of the Sabbath. Sabbath candles or no Sabbath candles, some Israeli bookstores are going to defy the public law and supply Potter crackheads with their last dose of teen wizardry. (From the Miami Herald)

With Israelis already clamoring for "Deathly Hallows," many bookstores are planning to launch the book at the appointed hour. That has drawn fire from Orthodox Jewish lawmakers, including Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai, who threatened to fine any store that opens Saturday."Israeli law forbids businesses to force their employees to work on the Sabbath, and that applies in this case as well. The minister will fine and prosecute any businesses which violate the law," said Roei Lachmanovich, a spokesman for Yishai, of the ultra-0rthodox Jewish Shas party. [...]

Steimatzky, Israel's biggest bookstore chain, is holding a gala event in Tel Aviv beginning Friday night to launch the book, and the company has no plans to change the time, said spokeswoman Alona Zamir.

"We're required by our agreement with the book's publisher to launch the book at the same time as everywhere else in the world," Zamir said.

Wingardium leviosa!!

For Beliefnet's rendition of this story, see here.
 

"New" Tolkein Book Has a Hebrew Title

Well, maybe. According to CNN.com, the "new" Tolkein book is called "The Children of Hurin." Maybe it's just me, emerging from a magical Passover Sederland, but that title sounds a lot like the Haggadic "benei chorin," meaning "free people."

The story is set long before "The Lord of the Rings" in a part of Middle-earth that was drowned before Hobbits ever appeared, and tells the tragic tale of Turin and his sister Nienor who are cursed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord.

I'm tempted to conjecture that Morgoth is Pharaoh and that the drowning was in the Red Sea, and to conjecture that Turin tries to save the people and then Nienor dances and shakes timbrels after Morgoth's armies drown in the sea. But I haven't read the book, so that would just be irresponsible reporting.

Catch a (Jewish Literary) Rising Star

You might think that since the Oscars are over, all awards have been distributed to all deserving artists the world over. But you'd be wrong, because when it comes to Jewish literature, it's still Awards Season; and when it comes to the the Oscars of the Jewish literary world, the Annual National Jewish Book Awards, you're invited to attend.

On March 6th, when NY's Center for Jewish History hosts the 56th Annual National Jewish Book Awards, admission will be free and open to the public as the People of the Book celebrate the people who write books. There might not be a red carpet or fancy and taxable gift bags, and the paparazzi will likely be very civil and nonintrusive, but the event will feature attendance by Jewish literati, like Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, winner of the Everett Family Foundation Jewish Book of the Year Award for his most recent opus, A Code of Jewish Ethics, Vol. 1:  You Shall Be Holy), and winners in sixteen other categories, like Dara Horn (The World to Come), Daniel Mendelsohn (The Lost: A Search for Six of the Six Million), David Cesarani (Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, Crimes and Trial of a "Desk Murderer") Shuly Rubin Schwartz (The Rabbi's Wife: The Rebbetzin in American Jewish Life) and others.

The event is said to be one of great spirit, and will be hosted by the famous journalistic duo of Ari Goldman and Sam Freedman (both professors at Columbia School of Journalism). The program is followed by a literary schmoozefest and book signing with the authors.

Your only excuse for not going is if you're already in California for Jewlicious at the Beach. Everyone else will want to report to the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street) at 7:30pm for this evening with the Jewish literary stars. More information about this event and a full list of the authors being honored is available here.

(This event is brought to you by the Jewish Book Council.)

Cross-posted at Jewlicious.

Why You're Still Single

Remember Evan Marc Katz? The guy who runs E-Cyrano? Or wrote "I Can't Believe I'm Buying This Book?" (Click below to purchase...) Well, now he's got a whole new set of answers for everyone's favorite question..."Why am I still single?" (And by "I", I mean the collective I.) Hate him or love him, Evan will be brash and brutally honest, but he swears it's for your own good.

Review of "Why You're Still Single: Things Your Friends Would Tell You If You Promised Not to Get Mad" to come, but in the interim, if you really want to know the answers...buy his book.

Be the Bond

As an adult, he obtained a license to kill. (I read all of the Ian Fleming books when I was in elementary school, and I'm actually still not sure what that means.) But as a teenager, James Bond likely didn't even have a driver's license. Plus, Pussy Galore wouldn't even give him the time of day. She said she was totally into Q instead--she liked them brainy. In the interim, Miss Moneypenny was two grades behind Jimmy Bond in school, and couldn't get his attention. (In the movie, she will be played by Rachael Leigh Cook, wearing big dorky glasses.) Then, at prom, she dressed in a frilly dress by Jessica McClintock, and Jim said, "Hey Moneypenny, what's with the new look?" And ever since, she's been pining for a bit of Bond-age.

OK, so no one is going to hire me to write "James Bond at Degrassi High." (Although I'm willing to entertain offers.) But somewhere between Encyclopedia Brown and James Bond, there is this new series of books called Young Bond (via Adverblog):

Young Bond is a series of books written by 'Fast Show' writer Charlie Higson and published by Ian Fleming Publications. The books follow the exploits of secret agent James Bond in his youth. Fleming Media, part of Ian Fleming Publications, has appointed creative agency Cake to promote the books with a new mobile game, created by Player One, and website , just as the second book in the series, 'Blood Fever' is being published. The site will let users take on the role of Young Bond and solve mysteries in order to unlock new content and get the full experience of the online community. It will feature games, prizes, audio extracts from the book...

So if your parents ever told you "being a secret agent is no game," now they're wrong. Because it is a game. In addition to a series of books. Now you can Be the Bond.

(Hat tip to Ypulse)

Oprah Picks "Night" for Book Club

As of about two hours ago, the news hit the web that Oprah has selected a new book for her celebrated book club: Night, by Elie Wiesel.

"Night" is Wiesel's chronicle of his family's placement in the Auschwitz death camp, and was his first of more than 40 books, essays and plays. An accomplished work of prose, the book has often been called a novel, including by the study guide CliffsNotes. But Wiesel's foundation labels it a memoir, as does the book's publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

I remember Night. I read it in elementary school as part of our school's extensive Holocaust curriculum. In fact, it was one of a series of books that a fifth- or sixth-grader probably had no business reading. Mature subject matter, as they might term it today. But back then it was required reading; part of the immersion into the history of the Holocaust era. We read Simon Wiesenthal, and Lucy Dawidovicz, and Yaffa Eliach (who one day would be the academic advisor on the series that included my first book). We read and did projects about the death camps, and the Judenrats, and the ghettos, and the Einsatzgruppen. We saw movies like Holocaust and parts of Shoah. Our education, and the absorption of both word and image relating to the Holocaust, was almost automatic, or scripted...literally, in the case of an eighth-grade show we were drafted to write and perform ourselves.

Our cantata (first time any of us had ever heard that word, I assure you) was based on the works we had read, dramatized and paraphrased in our own words. It was story retellings punctuated by Yiddish songs about villages burning and Jews who escaped from the certain death of the camps into the probable death of the forests to become partisans. There was this one line in the script...because it was uttered by one of the more dramatically inclined girls in our class, and because (as the author of that line readily admits today, it was a little heavy-handed) I still remember it: "Hanukkah? In a death camp? Hanukkah? Surrounded by nothing but the smell of burning bodies 24 hours a day?" That line was so over-the-top, when it came to the writing and its delivery, that it was the object of scorn for many of the ("dude, drama is stupid") boys in the class. But that I could write a line like that was an indicator that I really wasn't absorbing the emotional gravity of the historical facts. I'm not sure any of us were really ready to.

Night was different...it was beautifully, lyrically, poetically written. And although it was (or seemed) fictionalized, it also resonated more deeply; in the well-craftedness of it all, by appreciating the artistry of the narrative, it also became that much more haunting. When I had nightmares, the images that plagued me were not the piles of bodies in death camps. They were the images from Wiesel's book; told by one young man as he experienced the complete subversion of any sense of normalcy and reality, and a descent not into madness, but into a darkened reality without hope, with death as constant companion as well as eventual and imminent fate.

What will Oprah's audience do with Night? Time will tell. But I'm looking forward to finding out. And I'm wondering if, reading it as adults, they'll be more or less impressed by the art of it, and whether a maturer mind is haunted as much by the words today as mine was when I was 11.